Logo in support of gay marriage takes off on Facebook

Profile pictures are being replaced across Facebook by users showing support for gay marriage, as two important gay-rights cases are being heard by the Supreme Court.

In place of the usual Facebook headshots, a pink equal sign over a red background popped up on many profiles Tuesday.

The equal sign, usually a yellow on a blue background, is the logo of Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest organization working toward equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

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"Red, which is the color of love, was selected, basically, to represent the fact that what we are looking for is for the Supreme Court to recognize long-term committed and loving relationships of gay people," said Fred Sainz, vice president for communication for the Human Rights Campaign.

The color swap was the decision of marketing director Anastasia Khoo, and since posting the new logo on the HRC Facebook page, Sainz said more than 9 million people have seen the image, with 60,000 people sharing it.

The color swap comes on the heels of two hearings at the Supreme Court.

Tuesday saw a challenge to Proposition 8, a law in California that bars same-sex couples from marrying. The Defense of Marriage Act will be challenged Wednesday, which prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage.

The redesign of the Human Rights Campaign logo and its promotion on social media was meant to bring awareness to the cases, but since pushing the image on their Facebook page, it's taken on a life of its own.

In Connecticut, many Facebook users are taking the logo and using it as their profile picture. Greg Nobile, a Branford resident and owner of a theatrical production company, is among them.

"I'm 20, so, of course, I always have my Facebook feed going, and first thing this morning I saw what looked like the Human Rights Campaign logo start popping up in red ... I was super inspired to see, from the morning just until 5 p.m. -- I'm looking at my chat feed right now and its primarily the red HRC logo," Nobile said.

Nobile said he was excited that it was not just his friends taking on the image, but those of an older demographic, using it as a "form of protest, or support more so, of what's happening in Washington."

Daniel Younessi, a master's student at the University of Connecticut, also changed his profile picture.

"Changing your Facebook picture is not going to make (Justice Antonin) Scalia change his mind, but at the same time I think it's important that people are aware of where you stand on the issue," Younessi said.

Emily Capobianco, a master's of fine arts student at Southern Connecticut State University, said she made the show of support because she believes people have the right to marry whom they wish, and because she has loved ones who are gay.

And while Capobianco acknowledges that simply changing a picture may be "slacktivism," and that it won't change any laws -- that's not the point. It can start a conversation.

"I think image-sharing and viral videos containing messages like this one are a great tool in showing support. People learn. I saw someone on my wall ask what the picture meant, someone explained it, and now her profile picture contains the same red and pink equal sign," Capobianco said.

Matt Smith, legislative assistant policy analyst for New Haven Mayor DeStefano Jr., said the proliferation of the image across social media is important for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people to demonstrate to the world that they need not remain in the shadows.

"And I think it's important for allies to say that," Smith said. "I think Facebook is a great way to show that on your sleeve."

Smith said that, since coming out 20 years ago, he's amazed to see how much society has changed.

"I think seeing this pop up on Facebook to the extent that it has demonstrates huge attitudinal shifts in support of gay marriage," Smith said. "Twenty years ago you weren't talking about gay marriage as even a possibility."

He said it's "awesome" to see the pink icon snowballing across Facebook.

"Who knows, maybe it sends a message to those nine people who are suddenly going to decide if everyone has the right to get married," Smith said.

Luke Dringoli, a social media strategist with Stoy Worldwide, a content marketing agency, said he paid close attention to the pink Human Rights Campaign logo spreading across Facebook.

"There's obviously a tipping point you have to reach in order for something like this to go viral, so to speak," Dringoli said.

According to Dringoli, that tipping point happens when a number of "top influencers" share something like this image.

"I notice that George Takei (of "Start Trek" fame) was one who seemed to have shared this image shortly after it went up on the Human Rights Campaign Facebook page, and he has tremendous amount followers," Dringoli said

"And on top of that, he has a really high "talking about this" number, which is a measure of combined engagement -- likes, shares, comments,-- and it speaks more to how much people are listening to him and how much clout he has on Facebook.

"So for him sharing it, it really spreads it a lot. I think it's one of the big things that may have helped it reach the tipping point earlier today."

Dringoli said one measure of the health of a meme -- how long it will stick around -- is if it spawns its own sub-memes. Within hours of sharing the original red and pink Human Rights Campaign logo, Dringoli said Takei had already posted a light-hearted parody of it involving the cooking show host Paula Deen.

"It's gone from a single photo being shared out, and being shared out by like an influencer like him, to him then sharing something that was created by somebody as a direct result of what he originally shared. You can see it getting meta," Dringoli said.

"I would say that's a measure of success."

As of 9 p.m. the pages of Gov. Dannel Malloy, Nancy Wyman, Chris Murphy, Rosa DeLauro, Elizabeth Esty, and Jim Himes were using the logo.

Call Michael Bellmore can be reached at 203-789-5282. Follow him on Twitter @bandango.